U.S. Marines free ship from Somali pirates (also… Marines scared the sh.. out of the Somali Pirates!)

12. September 2010 by admin.




Video from YouTube.com regarding this event

Click on the Picture for LARGER view 

U.S. Marines free ship from Somali pirates

Click on the Picture for LARGER view 

http://www.maritime-connector.com/NewsDetails/9650/lang/English/U-S–Marines-free-ship-from-Somali-pirates.wshtml?goback=%2Egde_119261_member_29278844

Click on the Picture for LARGER view

 

10.09.2010

In a predawn raid with helicopters hovering nearby, 24 U.S. Marines scaled aboard a hijacked ship in the Gulf of Aden on Thursday, arrested the nine pirates on board and freed the ship — all without firing a shot, the American military said.

American officials said the rescue appeared to be the first time the U.S. military had boarded a ship commandeered by Somali pirates, who have been hijacking vessel after vessel off Somalia’s coast and wreaking havoc on some of the busiest shipping lanes in the world.

The pirates had threatened to open fire on the Americans but, once the Marines boarded the freighter, most of them dropped their AK-47s. The others hid in spaces throughout the ship.

“They had been showing a bravado,” Marine Capt. Alexander Martin said. “But when we got there, you could see the change in their eyes. They decided they’d rather live than die.”

Marines used cutting torches, saws, hammers and other tools to break into various ship compartments to ferret out hiding pirates.

Despite the intense international naval presence in the region, the pirates are on track to have another banner year, with more than 30 ships hijacked in 2010 and tens of millions of dollars in ransoms. But not this time.

According to U.S. officials, around 5 a.m. Thursday, two teams of 12 Marines each motored up in inflatable boats to the hijacked ship, a 436-foot-long German-owned cargo vessel called the Magellan Star. A band of Somali pirates had seized the ship and its crew of 11 in the Gulf of Aden, between Yemen and Somalia, on Wednesday morning. It was carrying steel chains.

The Marines clambered up portable ladders — much as pirates have been doing — and swiftly took over the ship, U.S. officials said. Two helicopters hovered overhead, throwing down cones of light. A Turkish frigate, part of an American-led anti-piracy task force, was nearby. All nine pirates surrendered without a shot, U.S. officials said. The Magellan Star’s crew was safe, too.

A spokeswoman for the Navy’s 5th Fleet in Bahrain, said the Marines had been able to stay in constant contact with the crew on board, receiving specific information about the number of pirates and their locations on the ship, as well as the locations of crew members.

Source: mercurynews.com; Jeffrey Gettleman, Eric Schmitt

http://maritimeaccident.org/2010/09/10/magellan-star-pirate-take-down-give-the-master-a-pat-on-the-back-for-a-text-book-defence?goback=%2Egde_62537_member_29351121

Magellan Star Pirate Take-Down – Give The Master A Pat On The Back For A Text-Book Defence

US Marines who took the Magellan Star from the pirates who boarded it the previous day are being roundly and properly congratulated for their professionalism and restraint but without the text-book citadel defence mounted by the master and crew of the vessel itself the ship would have become just another Hobyo Hilton.

A citadel is a system of threat identification, deterrence and defence. The term is often mistakenly applied to the saferooms into which officers and crew lock themselves as a last resort to await rescue.

The pirates managed to overcome the outer layers of the ‘citadel’ and board the dead ship. Their problems started immediately. The system had been so successfully prepared that one of the pirates, irate, telephoned the ship owner. A man speaking broken English demanded fiercely: ‘Where is the crew here? Why is the engine not working?” (Hamburger Abentblat).

A well-written account by Captain Alex Martin, USMC, Force Recon Platoon Commander,”BLUE COLLAR 6″ 15th Marine Expeditionary Unit, reveals that after securing the vessel it still took the marines three hours to break through to the citadel’s saferoom:

“The crew rescue, which was Bravo Element’s doing, was a second, equally important story.  The recovery amounted to a 3 hour effort.  And Blue Collar seemed a fitting call sign as I watched my guys defeat half a dozen obstacles in confined spaces using thermal torches, power saws, and heavy tools.  The physical stamina of the Marines cutting the doors and barricades the crew set in as their own defense against the pirates was impressive.  I watched as they rotated on the equipment, all the while holding security, and thought: these are some tough ass blue collar pipe hitters.

Despite announcements I was making over the ship’s loudspeaker to the crew (in Russian and English), despite loudspeaker callouts made inside the spaces by the Marines, and despite a pre-planned arrangement between the crew and Captain Bolt (which was briefed to me, Cold War style, at 3 am on the morning of the assault, and involved British maritime shipping and insurance agencies, soviet-bloc code words and authentications, a Polish captain, Russian and a mixed international crew, Somalian pirates with hostages who threatened to “burn her” and a Turkish command vessel) the crew kept falling back to defensive positions, scared and uncertain of what was happening.  In classical Murphy fashion, they lost their phone’s battery power the very minute we boarded their ship.

Deep in the engine room, Bravo Element continued to work the problem, as 1st Lt Williams and his trailer Marines rushed to conduct a detailed clearance of all spaces as well as augment the breaching effort.  Alpha Element coordinated the entry of the US Coast Guard LEDET (Law Enforcement Detachment), NCIS, the Dubuque’s VBSS team and a constant resupply effort that was underway to bring us water, breaching tools, and the ship’s damage control experts.

They finally cut one last hole, and called in with our loudspeaker that it was safe, the Marines had control of their ship, and to please come out.  The ship’s captain peered hesitatingly from behind a steel bulkhead, still unwilling to come forward.  Sgt Chesmore ripped an American flag patch from his shooter’s kit and held into the room as a final identification.  The captain broke into a huge smile and immediately called his crew from their hiding places.  They ran forward, unlocked the final barricaded door in their “citadel” and were escorted topside.  Excited.  Exhausted.  And happy to have their ship back.”

A number of points lay between the lines of this account. The Magellan Star’s crew had several defensive positions within the vessel and were well prepared – it was not just a case of locking themselves into a saferoom.

It was a superb defence that kept the pirates at bay for hours.

The US Marines did a great job, and so did the master and crew of Magellan Star. Give them all a pat on the back.

See Also

Magellan Star Released By Marines “Without A Shot”

The Magellan Star: Pirate Takedown, Force Recon Style by Capt. Alexander Martin

Maersk Alabama “Followed Best Practice”

Citadel Compliance Might Kill Seafarers

How To Be A Hostage

* Another quote from: http://blog.usni.org/2010/09/09/pirates-beware-force-recon-really-does-have-your-number/

Pirates Beware: Force Recon Really Does Have Your Number

YN2(SW) H. Lucien Gauthier III Says:

“The suspected pirates were all likely in their 20s and 30s, and some of them didn’t have shoes or shirts, Marines on board at the time of the raid said. After they gave up, their fear was obvious, said Capt. Alexander Martin, commander of the force recon platoon. They have been detained aboard the guided missile cruiser Princeton, Berger said, but officials would not immediately say where they may be taken next.
“As soon as the first stack of [Marines] made our way into the bridge, their hands were up, their weapons were down, they moved to their knees and they were compliant,” Martin said. “At that point, they were pretty scared. One guy actually defecated himself. … He sh– his pants. I don’t know if that can go on the news or not, but that actually happened.”
–Conway Endorses Force Recon After Pirate Rescue
(NAVY TIMES 09 SEP 10) … Dan Lamothe

Aparently that can go in the news… Sir, I owe you a beer for that quote.

—

Alan Spicer Marine Telecom

http://www.marinetelecom.net and http://www.wifiyacht.net

+1 954-683-3426

communications @ marinetelecom.net

Posted in Main | No Comments »